" Independence Forever 



aUINCY 

Old Braintree 
Merry- Mount 

AN ILLUSTRATED SKETCH 

By 
DANIEL MUNRO WILSON 



The town of Quincy, — the home of Wheel- 
wright and Coddington; the birthplace of 
Hancock, the Adamses, and the Quincys; a 
spot to be held in everlasting remembrance in 
the history of religious and civil liberty. — 
John G. Palfrey^ 




« '(^ 7^73 

((i|)vni^lilX" 



-iKUIHT DKI'OSIT. 



QUINCY, OLD BRAINTREE, 
AND MERRY-MOUNT 

An Illtistrtited Sketch 



By DANIEL MUNRO WILSON 



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THE OLD CKKAR OF MEKKV-M( HXT 



Boston 

Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co. 

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OCT 1 iPOfi 



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~rMMIT OF SQI'AXTrM. OK S(.ir AW Id 



FOREWORD. 

This skctcli is published in response to a demand for a "Souvenir 
of (^uincN ■" with many illustrations and ])opular in price. Somethin<ij 
of the kind would inevitably be issued. Hence a cogent consideration 
was that ;i svmpathetic compilation and selection of photoe;raph.s 
from ample materials would (•omi)ass what is desii'cd a |)roduction 
I'eallv wortiiv of th<' citv more satisfactorily than one emanating 
chiellv fi'om commercial luotives. Many conspired with this 
liberal view of thin<i,s to the extent of gener(»usly otferini>; su';'<i:estions 
and funnshiu<f facts and photographs. To Mr. James L. Edwards, 
treasurer of the Quincy Historical Society, I am especially indebted 
for material belonging to his private collection or confided to his 
care. Photogra|)hs have been loaned by Mr. IK-ury F. (iuilil. for- 
merly of Atlantic; Mr. Wemlell (i. Corthell; the city clerk. Mr. 
Harrison A. Ki-ith; Mr. Julius Johnson: Mrs. W. S. Blanchard, and 
(\ R. Webster & Co., the Roston firm which has photographed so 
many of (^uincy's famous houses. 

DAMKL MINKO WILSON. 
Patkiuts' JJay. 1 !»()(■>. 



Copyright, igod, by 
Da.mel Munko Wir.soN. 



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DOROTHY HAXCOCK WALL PAPER 

■' AikI srladly would we note the nohle lives, ' 

The names whose nieniory in this place survives 
In golden gleams along the liistorie tliread 
That binds the living to the immortal dead: 
Those who through stormy days of battles grim 
The struggling nation's counsels wisely led: 
And when her pathway grew perplexed and dim. 
And help was far, and hope seemed almost fled, 
Lifted her drooping head." 

i'hristiijihcr Pcar.tc Crunch. 

I IXCY sits enthroned npon lier liills by the sea, nour- 
ishing her j)atriotism t'ar-(h-a\vn from a glorious past, 
and facing the future with bright expectancy. A city 
(Hstinguished among the most famous; the one civic 
unit in the United States whicli has given two Presi- 
dents to the nation; chosen home of Independence; 
birthphice of the first signer of the immortal Declara- 
tion; native soil of other far-famed leaders in statecraft, literature, 
and education, — she is also astir with the masterful spirit of this twenti- 




6 



Standish was scckino- the Sachem of tlio [Massachusetts trihe of 
Indians, who, it was surmised, might l)e found on the ancient j)hintin,ii- 
p;round of his race, the mea<U)Ws since called " ^Massachusetts Fields," 
or near " Moswetuset Hummock," his tradi- 
tional seat of rule. Here, on this rocky islet, 
surroundeil hv its sea of salt marsh and the ,-V..: 

brown sands of the shore, was the council 
tire of the native trihe from which our State 
takes that name which has been made "a 
name and a |)raise in all the earth." "(iod 
save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!" 



" 'I'lii' Sailicni III' tlu' hay. hy Sciuaiituin's shore, 
lii-ld o'er lii> t'catlicrcd warrim-s sway of yore; 

'riicrc st I Ills wigwam in tlic liiunniork's sliaclc. 

Tlicrc tlic iiiai/e-tassct-^ with tl\o l>rc<'zcs playciL 
'I'licrr tlic |-('(l hunter cliasfd the antlen'(l ^■an:e. - 
'I'hence Massaclinsetts took her honored name." 

Williaiii P. Ltuil. 




;•**•.* 



-TAMHSII I \I1;N 




()R tlie first settlement upon Quincv territory we come 
down to the year l(i'-2.5, when ('a])tain Wollaston es- 
t.iMished a tradine' post on, oi' close hv, the hillock 
since known as Mount Wollaston. In his absence his 
rebclliosis s(M-vants, led by Tliomas ]Morton, "that 
pettifo<i'<ier from Furnival's Iim," flung" off all authority, 
declared their independence, every man doino; what 
was right in his own eyes. On IMay Day, \(H'l . tliey flaunted their 
freedom in the sight of solemn Puritanism by setting up the far- 
famed IMav-pol(>. Hilariously these unleashed pagans fiom the pur- 
lieus of the gross court of King .lames danced about the "idoll" ot 
iMerrv-Mounl. joining hands will: "IIk lasses in beaver coats," and 
singing their ribald songs. For this, and also because they sold arms 
to the savages, ]Mvles Standish. with his army of eight men from 
I'lvmouth. scallci-ed them and arrested Morion. 



SCANDALOUS, this entire e])iso(le, — very scandalous! almost as 
l)ad as the debaiiehes of some present sons of the Puritans! 
But what resident of Quincy would have it 1)uried in ol)livion ? 
It savors of romance, it has a touch of the picturesciue, it antici])ates 
the free camaraderie of the Western cowboy, it distinguishes us in 
story. Is not Hawthorne's "May-pole of Merry -Mount" a classic' 
and is not Motley's "Merry-Mount" a name in American literature.^ 
Fortunately, the little hill has been left to nature. There it is on the 
estate of Mrs. John Quincy Adams just as it was when it was over- 
topped by the May-pole, "a goodly pine of eighty foot, ... a faire sea 
mark for direc- 
tions, how to find 
out the way to 
m i n e host o f 
Ma-re-Mount. " 
A generation ago 
it was treeless, 
save for the tall 
bent stem of a 
single aged ce- 
dar. Now the 
hill is clothed 
with young trees, 
all but the sum- 
mit. A land- 
mark it is still; 
the scene of a 

comedy not to be forgotten. It has become our "Mons Sacer," not 
onlv on account of that earliest event in our history, but because on the 
seal of the city of Quincy it figures as the chief device. When, in 188'^, 
the committee appointed to present a design for the seal was con- 
sidering the matter, George W. Morton, one of its members, sug- 
gested to the present Charles F. Adams, who was chairman, that 
Mount WoUaston with the single bent cedar would be both appropriate 
and picturesque. Mr. Adams at once adopted the idea. A sketch of 
the hill, barren as it then was, had been made a little more than fifty 




MERRVMOoNT, HnME OF MRS. J. y. ADAMS 




lUKTHPLACES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
From a sketch in iSaz 



Home of Joseph .Mur=li 





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r.ii.Tiin.Mi:-. ok xwv. ri:i:sii)KNTs. i-kum a kki i;.\ r ni(iiiM;i; ww 



9 



years before by George W. Beale, Jr. From this sketch was taken 
the salient feature, — the summit of the hill with its tree and the sea 
beyond. Dates were then set down, and for motto Mr. Adams chose 
the Latin word Manet, "It remains." A most satisfactory achieve- 
ment. The hill remains, connecting the present with the past; the 
town remains, continuous in its history and develo|)ment; the free 
spirit of it remains; the fame of it remains, and will remain forever. 
The tree does not remain. It was blown down in a storm Nov. 
10, 1898. Shortly before a chance snap-shot was taken of it by Chas. 
E. Sampson, and this, by another happy chance, was seen by J. L. 
Edwards, who enlarged it. I^ater, in behalf of the Qiuncv Historical 
Society, he placed a granite mai'ker where the tree had stood. 

The trunk is thirty-three feet long, and seven and a half feet 
around the butt. Why not make of j)art of it a chair of state for our 
Council Hall, which shall seat our worthy mayor, James Thompson, 
and his successors ? It may come to be so valued that, like an- 
other "roval seat of Scone," kingdoms will ultimately contend for it. 





>HE permanent settlement of Quincy can boast of 
no such natural monument nor dramatic opening 
scene. Nevertheless, significant was this event. In 
the souls of those earnest pioneers who sought liberty 
and homes of ])cace in the wilderness were Declara- 
tions of Independence, and Free Constitutions. Their 
memorial is now visible to the discerning eye, in a Mighty Democ- 
racy enfranchising the world. " Who, then," asks John Adams, " was 
the author, inventor, discoverer, of Independence ? The only true 




11 



answer must be tlie first immigrants." They were of that happy 
breed of men througli whose righteous aspirations the treasured noble- 
ness of Enghmd streamed into a Commonwealth there and here. 
Such were the fathers of Old Braintree and Quincy, as of Plym- 




;OHN ADAMS 



ou 



til and Salem and lioston, and every other right New England 
community. Their manhood, intelligence, and independence glow 
in every page of the town's history; tiieir names are on our hills, and 
they linger still in our homes: Bass, Saville, Spear, Cranch, Baxter, 
]Marsh, Penniman, Crosby, Brackett, Xewcomb, Fenno, Vesey, 



12 

(leverlev, Faxon, ('rant', Curtis. Iloltart, Arnold. (Jlover. Xightin- 
f^'ale, Havden, Tirrcl. Hillings, and 

■■( )nc iKiiiic illii^tiioiis. wliicli sluill ni'vor fade: 
Jciiin-d V, itii MiiotliiT of ;in old renown, — 
'llie naint' that l)k'nds willi Harvard's classic shade, 
And svlhihlcs M>ur old familial' town." 

TIIA'J' '■ name illustrious"" was first hrou^lit to these shores In" 
Henry Adams. He probably arrived here in l(),'5'-2 with the 
JJraintree Comj)aiiy, whieli befj;an to "sit down"" at [Mount Wol- 
laston, as the entire rei^ion between Boston and Weymouth was then 
called. Althon<^h the eom|)any was ordered elsewhere. enoup;h re- 
mained to influence the settlement to name itself Braiutree when it 
was incorporated as a town in 1640. AVith Henry came his wife, 
eifj;ht sons, and a daii<;'hter. After his tleath, in l()4G.most of the sons, 
vio'orous |)i()neers that they were, souj^ht the _<;;reater s])aciousness of 
the frontier, and settled in Concord and MeilHeld. Joseph, the 
seventh son. remaini'd on the farm. He mai'i'ied Abigail Baxter, by 
whom he had twelve children. His second son, another Joseph, 
married Hannah Bass, and it is throu<>h him that the Adamses come 
to the full strength of fibre and fame. 

Here, then, after the overflow from Boston, which bei^an 
about Ki.'M-, were the Makers of America, a whole townfid of 
them. Theii"(|ualitv was made entii'cly dominant by the fine strain of 
"(ireat Mother"" Joanna Hoar, widow of the SlieriH' of ( iloucester, 
England. One of her (lau<i;hters, Joanna, married the second Kdnuuid 
(^uiucy; another, Marjorie. married Minister Flynt; a son, Leonard, 
who married Bridget, daughter of the I^ord Lisle who was President 
of the Court which <'ondemned King Charles, became the third Presi- 
dent of Har\ard College; and another son. John, who removed to 
Concord, is the ancestor of the family made famous by Senator (ieorge 
F. Hoar and Judge E. R. Hoar. Later came the Cranches from 
England, the Hardwicks and Breislers from Germany, and the Han- 
cocks from Lexington. As the sands of the .sea for multitude are the 
excellent and the eminent of to-day whose souls subst ratum is traced 
to th<' stream of ( )l(l Uraintret' and (^uincv immigrants. 



13 



^v5''?SS§^^-'l' i^ ^;'i<l o^" -loliii Adams, the Deacon, son of the 
%^ second Joseph, that he was a man typical of the farmer 
Had he received a college education, wrote 
Quincy Adams, "he would have Ijeen 
distinguislied either as a clergyman or as a lawyer." 
His eldest son John, born Oct. 19, 1735, did re- 
ceive the college education, and not only became a lawyer, but 
the great statesman of the Revolution, the chief advocate of Inde- 
pendence, and the second President of the United States. 





()1.1> K1J( HK-\, Hi),\lK ub' .IMH.N AM) ABKiAlL ADAMS 

THE house in which John Adams was born is the unpretentious 
farm-house of the j)eriofl. Its original rural surroundings 
pictured in the sketch made by Miss Eliza Susan Quincy in IS^!^, 
may be revived with a little aid from the imagination, — the old 
Plvmouth highway, the wide-spreading "Captain's Plain," through 
which meandered the tree-fringed brook, the summits of the Blue 
Hills, rising range above range to the highest land in eastern [Massa- 
chusetts, the sparsely scattered homes of the neighbors, in one of 



14 

wliicli was, as Miss Quiiuy wrote, "a liii^lily res|>ectal)le scliool, 
ke])t for many years by Mr. Joseph Marsh, at which Jolin Afhims 
and Josiah Quiney, Jr., were prepared for collep;e."' All lovely, then, 
was the j^jreen unspoiled earth, and in keepino; the homes which nestled 
close to it: to-day how humble the "little hut," as he himself called 
it, in which the President was born! Ilnmble, truly, yet a shrine for 
meditation and for the elevation of thought! The more mea<i;re the 
material suii-oundini;s, the mii;htier the man who emerged from them. 
John Adams was, indeed, one of the greatest in a su|)reme e])och of 
human historv. Not another leader of that eventful time, not Wash- 
ington, nor Franklin, nor Jefferson, sur|)asscd him in prophetic an- 
ticipation of an Independent America, nor did any c(|nal him in the 
in(l(tmitable ])atiencc and power of pei'suasion which I'vcntnally won 
the Declaration. New ages were in him, a new humanity in his sense 
of natural rights. How clearly he voiced the daring as])irations of 
that time and all time! of "radical New England," how profoundly! 

■■ 1 am tlic tiinii|>i-l at tli\- lips, tliy clariciii 
l-'iill (if tliy riv, sdiiiiniiis with thy breath." 

TlIK birthplace of such a man is a Mecca of the free; the goal 
of i)ilgrimages far drawn and yearly becoming more frequent. 
Still in the |)ossession of its original owners, the care of the 
birtli|>lacc of John Adams has been intrusted to the Adams Chapter, 
1). R. With enlightened sym|)athy they conserve every sentiment, 
everv anti((ue plenishing which will restore this Cradle of American 
In(le])cndence. 

One such shrini' is cnougli to enrich ;i town. (Quiney has two. 
The simihir structure so close bv is the h()us(» to which John Adams 
took his wife Abigail when he mtirricd her. tlic ^i.')\]\ of October. 17()4. 
it is the home in which John (Quiney Adams was born. Two Presi- 
dents of the highest order, by native greatness forging to the front 
in the creative hour when (rod was making a new Nation! It is a 
graci' which falls lo no other coiinminity. l'\)rliniatc the place, 
"this blessed plot, this earlli," ddwcred with lives so great ;ind high, 
with |>alriols of such utter faithfulness. 

Bolh hduses came into ihc possession of .lohn Adams. The one 



15 

ill wliicli Abigail anil he beifau hou.sekeepin(>' was built in 1716, and 
was left him by his father, together with forty acres of land, when he 
died in 1761. Later he bought of his brother "my father's home- 
stead and home where I was born." This was built in 1687. The 
Quincy Historical Society occuj)ies the "John and Abigail Adams 
cottage," and their appreciative restorations are exemplified in the 
picture of the "old kitchen." 




AlilGAlL AIIAMS 



ABIGAIL ADAMS, the mistress of this expanding tlomestic 
establishment, was a woman worthy in all respects to be the 
wife of John Adams. Beautiful was she in face and soul: 
a wise, loving, and gracious daughter of New England. Slie was 
the daughter of the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth. Her motlier 
was a Quincy, a daughter of Colonel John Quincy and P^lizabeth 
Norton, his wife, who lived on the farm at Mount WoUaston. This 
is the bond of kinshij) which unites the Adamses and the Quincys. 



16 

Solemnly was that bond honored at tlie baptism of the first ehild 
of John and Abigail Adams, born July 11, 1767. Mrs. Smith, 
the mother of Abigail, was present, and she requested that the child 
should be named John Quiney, after her father, then breathing his 
last at the age of seventy-eight. Long afterwards President John 
Qninev Adams wrote as follows of this transaction: "It was filial 
tenderness that gave the name. It was the name of one passing 
from earth to immortality. These have been among the strongest 




I:>RAWING-KOO^r in adams mansion 



links of niv atlachnient to the name of (Quiney. and have been to me 
through life a perpetual admonition lo do nothing unworthy of it." 



COi.OXHL .lOIIX (^riXCY was in his day a man of eminence, 
strong in his personality, able and highly honored; one of the 
grcalesl of the (^uincys. lie was the son of Daniel (^nincy. 
the first-born of Kdniund (^uinev and .loanna Hoar, 'riius the 



Adamses throu<i:h him inherit, not only the fine (|uality of the Quincys 
at their best, bnt also the white fire of clear intellectual and moral 
fervor which flamed in the souls of the "(ireat Mother" Joanna 




JOHN yUINCY MONUMl.N I 



Hoar and her ott'spring. Colonel John Quincy, not the least among 
these otfsprintf, was chosen to about every office a colonist mip^ht fill. 
A monument has been placed over his grave in the old burying- 



18 

ground by the Quincv Historical Society, and a nuiral tablet to his 
memory is to be achled to those which adorn tlie walls of First 
Church, our Westminster Abbey. 

]\r()re inijjerishably is his memory honored, perlia])s, in the name 
of the City of Quincy. When, in 17!)'2, the North Precinct of Brain- 
tree was erected into an inde]jendent townshij), tin- Hon. Richard 
Cranch " reconunended its being called Quincy, in honor of Col- 
onel John (Quincy." 



LET us return now to his namesake, John (Quincy Adams. 
Hel])ful to his mother l)eyond his years in those trying days 
of the opening Revolution, he fearlessly becomes, when 
barely nine years old. her "post ridei"." going on horseback alone 

over the eleven lona' miles to 



lioston. lie was a year young- 
er than this when, on the morn- 
ing of the 17th of June, 1775, 
he clijiibed with his mother 
to the top of Penn's Hill to see 
what they might of the battle 
going on at Charlestown. 

On the spot where Abigail 
Adams and the young John 
(Quincy sought to penetrate the 
portent which darkened the 
horizon, a cairn has bet-n i-rec- 
tcd. This was done on the 
anniversary of the battle in 
1S!)(J. The large concourse of 
(Quincy residents and visitors 
needed butthe scene the mother 
and son looked upon, and the 
words of the speakers, to be thrilled with imaginations of that fateful 
morningwhen.astheroarof cannon rose and fell. Aljigail Adams prayed 
Almighty (iod to cover the heads of her countrymen and be a shield 
to her dear friends. In deepest sympathy with all that the memory 




Al;HJAIL AKAM.S I. Alll.N 








ADAMS MANSION 




ADAMS MAX8IOX-NEW (JATE 



20 

(tf tlie occasion evoked, the Adams Cliapter, D. R., airan(>ed the 
exercises of the (hiy. Mrs. X. V. Titus, the Keo'ent of the Chaptei-, 
|)resided. and introchiced those whose knowledtje of the <irt'at ev( nts 
of tlie ])ast or whose rehitionship to some of the chief actors in tlieni 
singled them out as eminently qualified to take a leading- jjart. The 
corner-stone was laid by the ('hapter, assisted by the present Abigail 
Adams, daughter of John (^uincy Adams, who, in the performance 
of her ])art of operative masonry, made use of the trowel. Addresses 
were delivered by Charles F. Adams, '•2d, then Mayor of Quincy, 
Edwin W. INIarsh, and Charles F. Adams, tlu- younger. A ])oem 
was read by Miss Elizabeth Porter (iould, and was deposited with 
other documents in the corner-stone. 




^■^A" that memoral)le 17tli of June when Abigail Adams 

^j,ir and her son trembled foi' their friends who were 

ghu'iously fighting and dying for liberty, John 

Adams, at the Continental C()n<rress in l*hiladeli)hia, 

t>2J was securint'' tlie election of Washinaton as Com- 



mander-in-Chief of the ])atriot army. It was the 
stroke of a statesman, which cemented the union of North and 
South, thus committing all the Colonies to the war for freedom. 
The crowning achievement of John Adams came a year later, 
at which time \\v stinudated Congi'css to tlu' momentous Declara- 
tion of Indepenik'nce. Jn him ab()\e all others the conviction of 
its necessity was incarnated. For it lie wrought night and day. 
Finallv, on the first day of July, 177(j. he led off in a s])eech of sur- 
jjassing el(>(|uence, and a "power of thought and expression which," 
said Jetferson, "moved the mend)ers from their seats." He was the 
"Colossus of that Congress," as Jefferson testified, the "Atlas of 
Independence," as Richard Stockton declared. lie com])elled con- 
viction, and, at last, on the ^d of July the resolutions of indepen- 
(k'UcN' were unanimously adopted. J'lie preparation of the immor- 
tal Dec-laration had been |)reviously submitted to a committee con- 
sisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston, 
and on the excning of the 4tli of July it was adopted with e(|ual 
unanimitw 



21 



ELATED ami thankful was John Adams. In a hurst of ex- 
ultation he wrote to Mrs. Adams: "The "-2(1 day of July, 1770, 
will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. 
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding g-enera- 
tions as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commem- 
orated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God 
Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and jjarade. with 




CITV Hi INITIAL 
Gift nf Hon. William B. Rii 



shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from 
one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward, for- 
evermore." So the event has been celebrated, but the 4th of July, 
the date of the adoption of the Declaration, is the one the people 
recognize as the culminating moment of the great event. 

Trumbull's j)icture of the signing of the Declaration is true to the 
life. John Adams, viewing it in Faneuil Ilall in his later years, re- 
called that, when engaged in the signing, a side conversation took place 



22 

l)et\vreii Ilarrisdii, wlio was remarkably corpulrnt, and Ell)ri(l»r 
Gerry, wlio was rcinarkahly tliiii. "Ali, (Terry,"" said Harrison, 
"I shall have an advantajje over von in tliis aet." "How so?" 




ADAMS ACADEMY 






PRESIDENTS' LANE 

in(|nii<'i! (kmin. " Whv."" replied Ilai-'ison, "when we eonic to he 
Inuif;' for this treason. I am so Ik avy, I shall phinip down upon th(> 
rope and he d(\id in an instant: hnt yo;i are so lii^ht that yon will 
l)c danij,'linii- and kicking' ahout I'or an Imnr in the ail'."" 



23 



The high level of noble devotion to liunian lihertv and to a <i;reater 
America which John Adams took uj)on his entrance into Congress, 
he maintained to the end. He toiled terribly. He was a member 
of ninety committees, and chairman of twenty-five. No other dele- 
gate bore upon his shoulders the weight of so heavy a burflen. Trulv, 
he was the "Atlas of Independence." It was he, also, who induced 
Congress to foster a navy, and who himself drew up its rules. And 




here it is worth noting that John Adams and John Quincy Adams 
never failed to evince their salt-water breeding. Both took an es- 
pecial interest in the navy and in the fisheries. They may be justly 
called the originators of the one and the defenders of the other. 
Space fails us to detail the other great services rendered by John 
Adams, — how effectively he represented Congress in Europe; what 
sagacity he displayed in forming the model of a Constitution which 



24 

was a(|{)])t('(| l)v liis own State, yes. and other States, and wliieli 
influenced the form of the Constitution of the United States. He 
lent essential assistance to the ne<;;otiations for peace, was later 
chosen Vice-President, and at last, consummation of ah, elected 
President. ^Yell iloes he deserve the title "Glorious Old John 
Adams!" 

The Vassal! house became the residence of John Adams wlicn 
finally he was permitted to return to |)rivatc life. lie lived in it 
during the remainder of his days. This house had been tlie summer 
residence of Leonard Vassal!, a West India Planter and a violent 
king-and-church Tory. lie fled at the outbreak of the devolution, 
and his estate was afterwards se(|uestratcd. The house was built 
in 17,')1. and contains one room |)anelli'd from flooi- toceiliiii^' in solid 
St. Domingo luahogany. John Adams l)ought the estate- in 17Sj. 
Here, through uneventful years, the ex-President and his wife were 
revered by their townspeoj)le, called upon by adoring Americans, 
and visited l)y eminent foreigners, not the least among whom was 
Lafayette. Here, too. marvellous to relate, was celebrated their 
golden wedding, that of tlieir son John (^uincy Adams, and that of 
their gi'andson Cliarles Fiancis Adams. The old Pivsident seems 
nevei' to luive had any declining years. Robust and active, he con- 
tinued to rise as early as four or Ave o'clocI'C, often building liis own 
Are. When tlie weather permitted, he walked iij) " I'lcsident's Lane" 
to the to]) of " I'resident's Hill," every morning, to see the sun rise 
and every evi'uing to see tlie sun set. 

Memoral)le was the celeljration of tlie Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
Declaration of Independence. Quiiicy had made great prepara- 
tions for a jovous festival. John Adams was ref|uested to grace t!ie 
occasion l)v liis presence. This the venerable patriot was not able 
to do, but he sent a dictated letter to Captain John Whitney, the 
Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, and pro|)osed a toast: 
"I give you Independence Forever!" 'I'lic -tth of July, lS'-2(), 
dawned brightly, and was hailed with the ringing of bells and the 
firing of cannon. It was celebrated, writes Charles F. Adams, the 
younger, "as its sturdiest su|)|)orter had fifty years before predicted 
it would be, as 'a day of deliverance, with [)omp and |)arade, with 



26 

shows, i;;niirs, sports, mins, l)ells, I)onfir('s. and illuminations.' On 
that fair '•lad day — in the midst of peace and prosperity and jjoliti- 
cal good feelini^, with the sound of joyous hells and booming guns 
ringing in liis ears, with his own toast of " Ixdepexdexce Forever' 
still lingering on the lips of his townsmen — the sj)irit of the old patriot 
passed away. His last wortls wiM'e, "Thomas Jefferson still sur- 
vives.' But Jefferson, too, had passed away a few hours earlier on 
that memoral)le Independence Day." 

"His beloved and only wife," Abigail, had died some eight years 
previously, on the 28th of October, 1818. A few years before his 
fleath, John Adams, moved, as he expressed it, "by the veneration 
he felt for the residence of his ancestors and the place of his nativity, 
and the habitual affection he bore to the inhabitants with whom he 
had so lKi|)pily lived for more than eighty-six years," gave to the 
town a large tract of quarry lands to assist in building a new church 
edifice. Later he gave other lands for the estal)lishment of an acad- 
emy, and all of his jirivate library, some 3,000 volumes, to further 
the ends of such an institution. 

lIIE Stone Tem|)le was dedicated Nov. 12, 1828. Into 
the soliil foundation of its front wall, and immedi- 
ately under the noble |)ortico, two granite chambers 
had been built. One received all that was mortal 
of President John 'Adams, and "At his side Sleejxs 
till the Trump shall Sound, Abigail, his Beloved 
and oidy Wife." Later the remains of their illustrious son, 
John (^uincv Adams, were entombed in the second chamber, to- 
gether with those of "His Partner for fifty Years, Louisa Catherine." 
Sacred as a house of Christian worshij) is this Temjjle; sacrosanct 
because of the dust it treasures, and because of its association with 
the generations of noble men and women who have worshipped 
beneath its wide and stately dome. 

John (^uiucv Adams, whenever he was in his native town, was 
always to be found of a Sunday in the " I'l't'sideut's pew." As re- 
ligiouslv was it later occupied by his son, our great minister to Eng- 
land during the Civil War, Charles Francis Adams, and his family. 




Here, also, were 
to be seen, in an 
adjoining pew, 
Jos i ah Quincy, 
President of Har- 
vard, and his fam- 
ily. Other names 
— how dear to pres- 
ent worshi])pers ! 
— arise in the 
memory as past 
days are dwelt 
upon. 

Two tablets, one 
on either side of 
the imposing ma- 




FIRST CHURCH FROM OLD BURYING-GROUND 
Hoar tombstones at left 




INTERIOR OF ITKsI 



-H.iNL riMPLE' 



hogany jjulpit, hon- 
or the Presidents 
and their wives. 
Other tablets to 
the memory of 
past ministers give 
a distinctive char- 
acter to the spa- 
c i < ) II s i n t e I- i o i- . 
This effect will l)e 
heightened w h e n 
t h e p r e s e n t 
Charles F. Adams 
sliall liave fulfilled 
his intention of 
placing on the 
walls two other 
tablets, — one to 
the memorv of 
Rev. Henrv Flvnt 



28 

Mini the otlicr to the ineiiioiv of ( 'oloiicl Joliii (^iiiiicy. Our West- 
minster Al)l)ey then, surely! 

The stream of pilgrims who jjjiss its jjortals, yearly increases. 
The wav to the tombs under the portico has been made convenient, 
and a door of open iron-work has been hung, through which the 
massive sarc()])hagi can be easily seen. Whatever will enable vis- 
itors to view the monuments in the church, and to steej) themselves 
for a satisfving space amid the great associations of the edifice, has 
been arranged by the officials of the society. The j)astor is the 
Rev. Ellerv Channing Butler. 




)ii\\ \ III ) I \-. 1 1 1 1 II 



TIIK Adams Academv was built in IST'^, upon the site ciioscn 
by John Adams, — the Hancock Lot, on which had stood the 
house in which John Hancock had been born. Another edu- 
cational cndowuu'ut was stinudated by the gift of John Adams. 
The Adams .Vcaclcmv is exchisivclv for boys. Dr. Ebeuezer \\ ood- 
ward, long a respected j)liysit-iaii of the town, determined there should 
be as (iue a school for the higher education of girls. So in his will 
he be(|ucallied a large j)ortion of his estate to this v\\i\. advising 
that his Institute should be built on tliat part of his land opposite 
the Hancock Lot. There they stand to-day, near, if not op})Osite, 



29 

— each enuiliiting the other in att'ordinfj; to Qiiiney youth unusual 
facilities for an excellent education. Yet another fine school, in this 
instance a private one, has been added in these later years to our 
numerous educational establishments. This is the "Quincy Man- 
sion School" for girls. ]Mr. Horace ]Mann Willard, the principal, 
has transformed the latest residence of the Quincys at WoUaston, 
has built two fine halls, the "Manchester" and the "Canterbury," 




QUINX'Y MANSION SCHOOL 



and so created, in one of the most beautiful and historic jnirts of 
the city, a refined and entirely modern boarding-school. 

The public schools of Quincy have long been famous far and 
wide. Indeed, some go so far as to utter the heresy that the city's 
distinction as the birthplace of Presidents and the source of one 
of the finest granites is distanced by the praise of her schools. Here 
beean that awakening: to the real teachinoj of real thinm which came 



30 



to lie known as "The Quincy System." Colonel F. S. linker, with 
his new ideas, " made in Germany," was a])])ointed sujierintendent 
of schools, and i^iven a tree liand. On the school board were John 
Quincv Adams, the jjresent Charles Francis Adams, James II. Slade, 
and other pidilic-spirited and eneri>:etie citizens; and in them the 
colonel found symjjathetic coadjutors. The results were both surpris- 
ing and inspiring. Yisi- 
^^' toi-s from every State in 

the Union s w a r m e d 
through the l)nildings to 
see this new thing in 
public education. The 
best in that ferment has 
been conserved and ap- 
])lied. It suffers no dim- 
inution under the admin- 
istrative ability of ^Nlr. 
Frank F. Parlin, the 
jjresent excellent sujjerintendent. The outlay for ecjuipment has 
l)een liberal and intelligently disbursed. The latest Ijuilding, the 
Washington, is the creation of a young (Quincy architect, Albert 
H. Wright. It is a fine examjjle of what the city has })een 
fui'nishing in this line for the accommodation of its rapidly multi- 
})lving school pojinlation. 




WASHIMiToN 




(juahtu 
spent i 
but Fur 



OIIX QUIXCY ADAMS raid^s high among the great- 
est characters in history. He is interesting in an ab- 
sorbing degree, in spite of what apjiears to be his 
aloofness. What an embodiment he was of aggressive 
righteousness, of ])atriotic statecraft! His con.scien- 
tiousness seemed too (ine for daily use, his exalted reli- 
ance upon clearest ])rinciples too (|uixotic. For these 
we call him the Puritan Fresideid. Aluch of his life was 

broad and in intimate relations with the courts of Euro])e; 

ilan he was born, and Puritan he remained, in veracity, hon- 



32 

estv, clear iii;mlines.s, and in devotion to an ideal America (iod 
Almighty wonld take interest in. 

His liapijy boyliood was spent in (^nincy. After that his o|)])or- 
tunities to enjoy the home and the scenes he loved so well were few 
and far between. At ten he went with his father to France. At 
fourteen he was the private secretaiy of Francis Uana at the court 
of Russia. Again, in France, he served Jefferson and Franklin 
as secretary. lie might have gone thence to London, when his 
father was appointed minister to the English court: hut he broke 




IIAKKV I.. lilCI-; 



awav from this fascinating life because he was an ardent American. 
He went to Harvai'd, and a little after graduating he was sent as 
minister to The Hague. While on oflicial bnsiness in London, he met 
Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter of .loslina Johnson, the Ameri- 
can consul, whom he married in 17!)?. Returning once more to his 
native land, he was elected to the Massachusi-tts Senate, and then 
to the National Senate; and this is the UH'asnre of his strides to the 
position of Minister IMeni|)otentiary to Kngland, to that of Secretary 
of State, and eventuallv to that of the I'residencv. 



33 

The "old man eloquent" is the title with which President J. Q. 
Adams was crowned toward the end of his days in sheer admiration 
of his abilities. Marvellous was that career of his in Congress after 
he had served as President. Through years of conflict, one against 
a hundred, he vindicated the right of Americans to petition the 
House they themselves created. " Since parties were first organized in 
this Republic, no statesman has ever approached him in persistent 




TABLET TO PRESIDENT JOHN QUIXCY ADAJIS 



freedom of thought,- speech, and action." He flied in harness. 
On the i^lst of February, 1848, as he rose to address the Speaker of 
the House, he fell unconscious. A few hours afterward, coming 
to himself for a moment, he said distinctly: "This is the last of 
earth. I am content." On the evening of the "^Sd he was at rest. 
The funeral services, imposing in their character, were held in Stone- 
Temple. 



35 

riARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, tlie tliird son of Presi- 
dent J. Q. Adams, continned the great traditions of 
the family. In him was the same moral persistence, 
sagacity, industry, and devotion to the highest Amer- 
ican ideals. As Minister to England during the 
Civil War, how great were his services!- "None of 
our generals in the field," said James Russell Low- 
"not Grant himself, did us better or more trvinj; service than 





OLD TIME BACK PIAZZA.-T. K. ADAMS' HOTSE, 1040 



he in his forlorn outpost of London." There his high character, 
his knowledge of international law, his imperturbability, kept England 
from permitting the Confederate iron-clads, built in her yards, to assail 
our shores. "For us," said Washington naval authorities, it was "a 
matter of life and death to defeat this invasion." He was born in Bos- 
ton, Aug. 18, 1807, where his fatlier was temporarily residing. When 



37 

liardly two years old, lie was taken to Russia with his jiarents. Re- 
turning to America in 1817, he was placed under the care of his 
grandmother, Abigail Adams, in Quincy. He graduated at Har- 
vard, anfl studied law under Weljster. In 1829 he married Abi- 
gail B. Brooks, the youngest child of Peter C. Brooks, a noted Boston 
merchant. That diplomatic skill of his, which was of the highest 
order, and that })atriotic spirit "unsurpassed by that of his fathers," 
were signally displayed once more when called upon to serve as arbi- 
trator on the part of the United States in the (Tcneva Tribunal, 
summoned to adjust the "Alabama Claims." Much of his later 
life was spent in Quincy. While deeply engaged in literary labors, 
he, nevertheless, found time to interest himself in the higher wel- 
fare of the town, in which service Mrs. Adams also endeared herself 
by her sympathy and unfailing tact. Mr. Adams was gathered to 
his fathers Nov. 21, 1886; and ^Irs. Adams followed him June 
6, 1889. Their remains were interred in ]\Iount Wollaston Ceme- 
tery. The six children of Charles F. Adams who lived to man- 
hood or womanhood have all distinguished themselves in social and 
national life. Not unknown to fame are John Quincy, Charles 
Francis, Henry, and Brooks. Affectionately is the memory of the 
late John Quincy Adams cherished in this city. Year after year, 
under the town form of government, he was unanimously chosen 
moderator. With him for leader — tactful, wise, swift in decision, 
witty, and resourceful — the town meetings were an unexcelled dis- 
play of democracy in action. 



M 




&, 


fM^ 


m 


i^i 



the love 
stead. 



OHN HANCOCK, — another man "sent from God, 
whose name was John"! The city came near being 
named after him. He was at the height of his fame 
when the North Precinct of Braintree was set off in 
1792; and, as first Governor under the Constitution, 
lie signed the act incorporating the new town. Born 
here on the 12th of January, 1737, he also wedded 
ly Dorothy Quincy, who was bred in the old Quincy Home- 
His name graces every patriotic address uttered in the hear- 










UUINCY HiiMESTEAl) 




])l^'I^<!Kl)o^[, (jcixcv hoimhstkad 



39 

iiiir of our citizens. We have a Hancock School, a Hancock Street, 
a Hancock House, anfl we ilid have a Hancock Light Guard. 

The house in wliicli Hancock was born was destroyed by fire in 
May of 1759, fate ordaining what Lowell thought should befall 
every house, — "AVhen the first occupants go out, it should be burned, 
and a stone set up with "Sacred to the Memory of a House' on it." 
The tablet is there on the Hancock lot in memory of the home of 
the patriot, but his people were not the last occu])ants of the dwell- 
ing. Josiah Quincy (1710-84), having prospered by the fortu- 
nate capture of a Spanish ship, retired from Boston to Quincy, 
and took up his residence in the Hancock parsonage. His .daughter 
was the adorable Hannah to whom John Adams all but proposed; 
and one of his sons was the fervent patriot, Josiah Quincy, Jr. These 
were the last occupants of the house. ^Meditating upon the catas- 
trophe, John Adams wrote in his diary: "It is not at all surprising 
that the Colonel is more dejected than his brother [Edmund over 
in the old Mansion, who lost all his property in an unlucky venture]. 
For his brother's dejection was more complete, yet the Colonel's 
was less expected. Ned was reduced to worse than nothing. Josiah 
has a competency left. . . . Edmund lost a son [Abraham by drown- 
ing off Germantown] as suddenly as the Colonel lost his house." 

Early Hancock threw his wealth, his sacred honor, and his life 
into the scale with the j^atriots. He was appointed one of the dele- 
gates to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, and entered it 
a proscribed rebel. General Gage offered pardon to all, except 
Sam Adams and John Hancock, "whose offences are of too flagitious 
a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign 
punishment." It was a son of old Braintree, thus singled out, whom 
Congress honored by election to its Presidency. As Benjamin Har- 
rison conducted him to the chair, he remarked, "We will show 
Great Britain how much we value her proscriptions." Hancock's 
name was the only one signed to the Declaration of Inde])endence 
on July 4, the great day on which it was accepted. He signed it 
in his bold characteristic handwriting, exclaiming, as he did so: 
"There, John Bull can read that without spectacles. Xow let him 
double his reward." 



40 

Tlic Ilnncocks rctiiiiied to the end tlicir interest in Quincv, or, 
ii.s it was then, Hi'aintree. 'I'liey returned now and af^'ain to its 
familiar haunts. A visit made in 17S7 had a soi-rowful endin<j. 
Their only son, John (ieor;j;e Washinoton Hancock, nine years ohl, 
met witli an accident while skatino-. He did not recover from its 
effects, and passed away, it is surmised, in the newer mansion of the 
Quincvs, that built l)v Josiah (Quincv in 1770. 




(■iiniii.\(iT()X's KircnKN. (.x'inci UdMEsii: ah 

>;*?^HE (Quincv Mansions are three in nuniljer. The 
^IbI most ancient is the (Quincv Homestead, which is still 
:'AV^^^ slaudiu"-. 'I'hc storv of il carries us hack, without 
llr.!;i.v.xS a break in hisl(u-ic continuity, to Kdnnind, "the 
K/.r^l iuiuiitfrant," and to the first settlers on the shores of 
Massachusetts Hay. From those early days till now 
the linest elements in American life — its simi)licily, its i^cmiine- 
ness, its jiatriolism. its inlelleclual vit^'or, its moral daring- -have 
been illus(rate<l in llie occupants of thai home and in those of the 
otliei- mansions of the (^uincys. Kduumd. "the immii;i-anl." was 
about Ihirlv-onc vears old when he arrived in Boston, Sci)t. 




41 

4, 1633. With liim came his wife Judith, and their two chiklren, 
Judith aud Edmund. In 1635 there was granted to Edmund Quincy 
and William Coddington a large tract of land at Mount Wollas- 
ton, as the region now included in the city of Quincy was first called. 
Cotldington, who was treasurer of the Colony, at once built him 
a farm-house on the grant. This is still standing, — the most ancient 
structure, perhaps, in New England. Coddington never trans- 
ferred his residence wholly to the "Mount." His visits were fre- 
quent, however: an<l a chaml)er in the house was especially reserved 
for him. 

Love of liberty drew Coddington to the "Mount" as much as 
love of husljandry. It was the time of the "Antinomian Contro- 
versy," the earliest outbreak for freedom of thought which occurred 
in New England; and a community of ardent liberals seemed rap- 
idly concentrating in this place. Here at Coddington's farm-house 
were gatherings of some of the brightest spirits of the times, — Sir 
Harry Vane, Ann Hutchinson, William Hutchinson, the Rev. John 
Wheelwright, Edmund Quincy, and many another. Upon their 
petition it was granted them, in 1636, to gather a church at the 
"Mount," and to have Wheelwright for minister. At first, it would 
seem likely, the worshippers met in Coddington's house, and then 
in 1637 a meeting-house was built. This is virtually the begin- 
ning of the old First Church of Quincy. To be sure, it was soon 
broken ujj; but some of the j>eople remained, and the liberal tra- 
ditions remained, and l)otIi entered into the permanent organiza- 
tion of First Church, which occurred Sept. 16, 1639. The "lega- 
lists," alarmed at the ])rogress of the liberals, rallied m Boston, 
and drove them from the field. This was done with a rough hand. 
Wheelwright was judged to be "like Roger Williams, or worse," 
and banished; Ann Hutchinson was banished; Coddington fled for 
freedom to Rhode Island, where he became the first Governor; and 
Vane sorrowfully withdrew to England. Edmund Quincy had 
died a year or so before. Had he lived, he would have shared the 
fate of his friends. 




LATER QUINCV MAX>Ii iN 
Sketch by Miss Quincy, 1822 




I'liw Ai;ii II. \N(;ii:i; 



43 

JUDITH QUIXCY, the widow of Edmund, married Moses 
Paine. After his death, in 1643, she entered intcj tlie occupancy 
of tlie Cotldino[ton farm-house. Later her son Edmund, wlio 
married Joanna Hoar in 1648, came into full possession of the 
homestead. By Joanna he had eleven children, and by the widow 
Eliot three more. These intermarried with the Savils. Hobarts, 
Savages, Gookins, Hunts, Bakers; and Daniel married Hannah 
Shepard, who bore Colonel John Quincy, from whom the city is 
named, and Edmund married Dorothy Flynt, the mother of all the 
Dorothys. As need was. Colonel Edmund built him a new house 
in 1685. Judge Sewall, under date of March '-2'-2, 1685—8, enters 
in his diary, " Lodged in the lower room of Unkle Quinsy's new 
house." This was the structure which, up to about ten years ago, stood 
a little to the south of the homestead, and was called the farm-house. 




CHRIST CHURCH 



jHE Quincy Homestead, as we now see it, was built 
during the life of the third Edmund Quincy. The 
late of its erection is thus set down by John Marshall 
in his diary, "June 14, 1706, we raised ^Ir. Quincy's 
house."" The old house which Coddington built was 
incorporated with this new structui-e. It was an 
achievement for the carpenters of those days, done by plain rule of 
thumb; and thus ample spaces are provided for "secret chambers," 
numerous closets of oddest shapes, curious shiplike lockers, and for 
similar entrancing conveniences. 




Ax event of the first importance soon distinoruished the new- 
mansion. "Dorothy Q.," "my Dorothy," as Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes calls her, was bom in it, Jan. 4, 1709. 
She was the fourth child. She grew to beautiful womanhoofl, was 
"well spoken of by everybody," and on the 7th of December, 
1738, married Erlward Jackson, Esq., of Boston. Their daughter 
Marv married Judge Oliver Wendell in 176-2, to whom was bom 
Sarah, who married the Rev. Abiel Holmes, the father of the jjoet. 
Along this line came down the portrait of Dorothy, marie famous 
bv Holmes's poem. 

The stors- of the painting is told by Dr. Holmes, as follows: — 
"The painting hung in the house of my grandfather, Oliver Wen- 
dell, which was occupied by British officers before the evacuation 
of Boston. One of these gentlemen amused himself by stabbing 
poor Dorothy (the pictured one) as near the right eye as his swords- 
manship would serve him to do it. The canvas was so decayed that 
it became necessari' to remount the painting, in the process of doing 
which the hole made by the rapier was lost sight of. I took some 
photographs of the picture before it was transferred to the new 
canvas." 

■■ Grandmother's mother: her age, I guess. 
Thirteen summers, or something less; 
Girlish bust, but womanly air: 
Smooth, square forehead with uproUed hair; 
Lips that lover has never kissed; 
Taper fingers and slender wrist; 
Hanging sleeves of stiil brocade; 
So thev painted the little maid. 

"On her hand a parrot green 
Sits unmoving and broods serene. 
Hold up the canvas full in view, — 
Look! there's a rent the light shines through, 
Dark with a centur\-'s fringe of dust, — 
That was a Red-coat's rapier-thrust I 
Such is the tale the lady old. 
Dorothy's daughter's daughter, told. 



46 

Jiulire Qiiincy. the father of Dorothy, was a distinofuished man 
ill his (lay. and passed ahuost his wliole hfe in the jnibHc service. 
His domestic establishment was ample, and his hospitality iinlijn- 
itevl. For his wife's brother. Tutor Flynt. he built the two-storv 
L on the north side of the homestead. The tutor was a bachelor. — 
scholarly, original, and witty. — but at times he fell into "a hypochon- 
drial disorder": and on the floor of his study tradition points out a 
depression worn by him as he walked forward and back in black, 
restless mood. The judge passed away in London, where he went 
to defend before the king the cause of Massachusetts in the boinidary 
dispute between that colony and Xew Hampshire. His two ,sons, 
Edmuntl and Josiah. had removed to Boston; but both eventually 
returned to the place of their birth. Josiah. the younger, who mar- 
ried Hannah Sturgis. took up his residence in the Hancock parson- 
age; anil Edmund entered into possession of the homestead. 

\}ll> Edmund Quincv. the fourth, was the father of 
the "Dorothy Q." who married John Hancock. The 
homestead, from the time of the first " Colonel," 
was full of life, but now it rose to flood-tide. 
Edmund had five daughters, all " remarkable for their 
beaut}'."' Around them fluttered the beaux in multi- 
tudes. Eventually, Samuel Sewall won Elizabeth; General William 
Greenleaf. Sarah; Judge Jonathan Sewall. Esther; and John Han- 
cock. Dorothy. Across the way. in the Hancock parsonage, lived 
Josiah Quincy. whose children were: Samuel, who rose to be solici- 
tor-general: Josiah. Jr.. who gained the title of "the Patriot"; 
and Hannah, to whom John Adams was about to propose when he 
retreated, to the delight of Dr. Bela Lincoln. Near by. at Mount 
Wollaston. was the home of Colonel John Quincy. His grand- 
daughter. Al)igail Smith, who became the wife of John Adams, 
was a frer]uent member of his household. Thus we have one of 
the most remarkable circles of youth and beauty, culture and ambi- 
tion and patriotism, which at that time might be gathered in Xew 
England. Lively is the account John Adams gives us of it. and it 
c-eutred in the Quincv Homestead. 




DOROTHY was the youngest of Edmund's children. WTien 
it was that Hancock won her consent to marriage, we have 
no means of knowing. Tradition says his troth was plighted 
while she was still living in the homestead. The large north parlor was 
adorned with a new wall paper express from Paris, and appropri- 
ately figured with the forms of Venus and Cupid in blue and pend- 
ant wreaths of flowers in red. Does any one doubt the tradition .- 
There on the wall hangs the paper to this day, unfading in its an- 
tirjuity and mutely confounding the incredulous. 

Before the happy day arrived, however, the family was dispersed 
h)v the breaking out of the Revolution. Dorothy found refuge 
first in Lexington, and finally at the home 
of Thaddeus Burr, in Fairfield. Conn. 
Here, on Aug. ^8, 1775, -John Hanc-ock 
and Dorothy Quincy were united in mar- 
riage. 

After the Revolution the ancient -home 
of the Quincys passed into other hands. 
It was mortgaged to Edwanl Jackson. 
Then it was bought by Closes Black. 
next by Elizabeth Greenleaf. and, finally, 
it came into the possession of Dr. Ebenezer 
Woodward. By him it was bequeathed 
to the town of Quincy for the support of 
the Woodward Institute for Girls. It was during the forty years 
or more the town authorities held the estate in trust that it was 
occupied by the Hon. Peter Butler. Filled once more was the home- 
stead with life and in its appointments fitted out in harmony with 
its best traditions. In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Butler, their son 
Siffoumev and a daughter, the room, reserved by Coddington for 
his especial accommodation, is set apart and ftimished appropriately. 
Later the estate was acquired by the Adams Trust Company, from 
whom the mansion and about two acres of land were purchased 
bv the Rev. Daniel M. Wilson, minister of the old First Church, 
who lived in it till he was called to Brooklvn, X.Y. Recently 
the Metropolitan Park Commission, aided by the Massachusetts 




T AST » TTTTn BOKN IX THE 
HOMESTEAD 




WILLIAM i; ii\'ii:ma\ 




DK. NATHAMKI. S. mNIlNC 



i9 

Society of Colonial Dames, bought the Homestead and added it to the 
Furnace Brook Parkway. The Commissioners then leased it to the 
Dames, by whom it has been most sympathetically and intelli- 
gently restored within and without. Many persons have con- 
tributed and loaned old-time furniture and utensils, pictures 
and clothing, so that entering the homestead seems like stepping 
into another age, that of the original " Colonial Dames." A competent 
and courteous care-taker has been put in charge, and the homestead is 
now open to the view of the public. 

The Quincy ^lansion at the "lower farm." now Wollaston. built in 




PROFILE OF SQUAW ROCK 

1770, stands for that line of the Quincys which traces its descent, 
not from sire to son, but, as it was wittily said, from 'Siah to "Siah. 
With it the reign of Josiahs began. The line of Edmunds came 
to an end with the father of Dorothy Hancock. None of his three 
sons had a male heir. His younger brother Josiah alone was left, 
he and his children, to continue the name of Quincy. But in this 
line none of the higher finalities of the race were found wanting, 
the Josiahs in their several generations upholding the honor and 
abilitv of the Quincy name magnificently. His son. Josiah. Jr., 
was so zealous in the c-ause of his countrv that he was barelv 




A QIAKKV OK THE (iKAMTE i:\ll. WAV CO 




A l)^Al;l;^ oi' riii; (inN(A' i,)rAKHiKS(i 



51 

thirty-one years of age when he wore himself out. To his son, 
another Josiah, he left a slight bequest with this prayer. " 'May the 
spirit of liberty rest upon him!" 

THE Josiah upon whom "the Patriot" breathed that brief but 
eloquent praver rose to be one of the most emment of the 
Quincys. He was a State Senator; a member of Congress, 
attaining the leadership of the Federal party; Mayor of Boston for 
six years, earning the title of "Great Mayor"; President of Harvard 
for sixteen years; author of a History of Boston, of the Boston 
Athenaeum, of Harvard, and of much besides. He was born in 
Boston. — and his residence was chiefly there and in Cambridge, — 
but he spent his summers in Quincy, and there he died July 1, 1864. 
Still another Josiah, the eldest son of President Quincy, forged to 
the front in public life. He, too, became Mayor of Boston. He was 
distinguished as a railroad man, and for his interest in the most pro- 
gressive ideas of the time, commercial, social, and moral. In his 
later vears he lived altogether in Quincy, a member of that delightful 
household which included his three unmarried sisters, Eliza Susan, 
Abbv Phillips, and Sophia M. How pleasant are the reminiscences 
of the gracious hospitalities of that home, with its old-time atmosphere 
and its anecdotes of the great men of the past! The "haj)j)y life" 
had certainly fallen to them. They declared, unreservedly, that 
thev had lived in the best age of the world, among the best people 
in the world, and in some of the best places in the world. "Tranquil- 
la " Dr. Channing named this home and its surroundings. 

In the next generation Josiah P. Quincy, a son of the Josiali who 
was distinguished as a "railroad man," built still another mansion. 
This is the fine building which has been transformed into the " Quincy 
[Mansion School" for girls. Its doors, like those of its predecessors, 
stood wide open to men of talent, to the leaders in thought and 
reform, to all eminent for their intelligence and public spirit. Here 
was born and bred his son Josiah, Mayor of Boston from 1895 to 
1898. The Quincys have now all withdrawn to Boston and elsewhere. 
For the first time since the town was named there are no Quincys 
of Quincv. 



52 



IxAIXTREE and Quincy, tliciriiuMi and tlu-ir hills. — 
tlu'ir sfioii-s and their syenite: the first liave furnislied 
some of the ablest hands by which our Revolution 
was achieved: the last has supplied the materials of 
the proudest monuments by which it will be com- 
memorated."" Thus Hon. R. ('. Winthro]) toasted 
the town at the second centennial of its ancii-nt in- 
corporation. The men and the monuments I Whenever (Quincy is 
mentioned, these till the inuiirination. Our First Cluu-ch is c;dled 
the "Church of Statesmen"; our conunuuity. the " City of Presidents."' 
often the "Granite City."" Men first: let that be emphasized! INIen, 
chiefly, o'ive fame and value to town or city. The "City of Presi- 
dents."" that is our unrivalled title. 




TIIK granite industry is. nevertheless, im|)ortant. As early as 
174!) this granite was utilized, but at that date only surface 
boulders were broken u|) and wiouiiht into sha|)e. Kinii'"s 
(liapel in IJoston was built of this nialerial, and it was thought to be 
so limited in (|uantity that the town became alarmed, and by vote for- 
bade its further removal luitil otlierwise ordered. Later, however, 
enough was secured to construct the famous old Hancock mansion 
on lieacon Hill. 

When at last, in bSO;}, it was discovered that l>y the use of wedges 
the obdurate material might be split into almost any shape and size, 
"the crust of the hills was broken."" and BunkiM' Hill monument 
became a j)ossibility. 

To facilitate the transportation of the hewn blocks for the Hunker 
Hill monument, a railway was built, the first in the country. It was 
laid from (|uarry to tide water, some two miles, and the first cai's. 
drawn by horses, ran ( )ct. 7. l.S'-2(i. From that time onward the 
granite business ra|>idly increased. There are iu)w about 140 firms 
engaged in it, which employ in the neighborhood of "2, ()()() men. 
The (juarries worked number about '2.). the plants in which cut- 
ting and polishing are done about 4(1, and those in which polish- 
ing alone is done about 10. Not far from a million dollars are 
investeil in ihc entire industrv. 



54 



IIIPlJUILDIX(r and sliippinti; arc natural and pic- 
tur(vs(|U(' ent(M-])ris('s of (^uiiicy. One aryuiiiciit used 
the iidiahitauts of tlu' North Precinct of Hraintree, 
wlien tlicy petitioned to be set off in a town by them- 
selves, was that because of their lonjij extent of sea- 
coast tlieir character and luibits of life would naturally 
take a niavitiine cast. In the past its inlial)itants did 
<fo down t(» the <ijreat deej). Still, "the maritime cast" is not now 
obtrusively eonsj)ieuous. For jicnuine "old salts"" we resort to the 
"National Sailors" Home"" and to the "Sailors" Snui:' IIarl)or"". 









'-^ 



-TT' 



It was in l(i!)(! that the fiist vessel was built in what is now (^uincy. 
In 178!), the old "Massachusetts"" was launched, the largest vessi-l 
for that day, t'i<;ht huu<lrc<l tons. Another vessel of note was tlu' 
liar((ue Mt. Wolla.ston, built for Edward Cruft about IS^Jd. .lohn 
Adams took considerable interest in hei' construction, and, it is said 
that iier timbers were hewn on land he owned. 




CLIPPER SHIP. "REDCLOrD" 




56 

Deacon (icoioc Tlionias built most ot" tliesc fi'at't. He came 
from Kocklaiid, ^le., in IS.jI, and in tliat year built his first ship, 
the "Kino- Philip."" His last ship, the "Red Cloud."" was launched 
in 1877. Xo other wooden vessel ot" any conse([uence has since been 
built in (^uincw 

GRKAT as were the activities in the way of shij)buildini;- in the 
(^uincy of the past, what were they as compared with those of 
the ])resent! We are hardly over our first astonishment at 
the rapid rise of the Fore River Shipbuilding Comj^any. What an 
astounding fulfilment is this of the ]>ropheey of John Adams, that our 
seaboard would some day be the scene of a great develo])ment of 
maritime iinhistry! The companv is now engagefl in "the construc- 
tion of its one hundredth and fortieth hull." And such "hulls!"" 
They include the "New Jersey" and "Rhode Island." (irst-class 
battieships. 1,5,000 tons each; the "Vermont,"" 1(5,000 tons; to say 
nothing of the seven-masted steel schooner "T. W. Lawson,"" the 
six-masted steel schooner "Wm. L. Douglas." ten-thousand-ton 
freight and passenger steamei's. j)rotected cruisers, whole fleets of 
torpedo boats, submarines, car floats, oil barges, and other levia- 
thans of the deep. Some four thousand men are employed. Every- 
thing about a ship is made here, — hulls and engines, woodwork and 
steel work. A walk through the immense shops reveals miracles 
wrought upon iron, steel, and wood by automatic machinery, great 
blast fui'naces. and the brawnv arms of swart workmen. Admiral 
Francis 'J". IJowles is presidt-nt of the company; II. (i. Smith, man- 
ager; J. A. Sedgwick, treasurer; Sanuiel Tu])])er MacC^uarrie. clerk. 



In enumerating the many advantages of (^uincy, one cannot help 
asking. "Is there any other comnuinity in the State moi'c highly 
favoicd ?"" Its population is over 30.000 now; it may be over 
40,000 in a decade. An influential "Citizens Association " is guiding 
this growth, president. Henry L. Kincaid(>; vice-president. Russel 
A. Sears; secretarv. Charles II. Murgess; treasurer. Nathan (i. Xick- 
ersou. These point out the rare advantages for almost any industry 
atfoi'ded bv (^uincv"s watei' and railwav facilities. Indeed, this region 




CLARENCE BURGIN 




(iEdKliE E. FFAFFMANN 



58 

early hrcaiiu' noted ani()»<i; the towns of Massachnsetts for its niann- 
factnivs. There was tlie iron works estal)lislie(l in 1648. and the 
^dass works and tiie stocking weaving hy (ieneral Joseph Palmer in 
17.5'-2, and the eoaeh hice business l)y Wilson Marsh, and the shoe 
business, Xoah Curtis in 1794 being one of the pioneers of it, and the 
Whiehers and Drakes earrving it on in these later vears. Now there 
is to be added such flourishing establishments as the Tubular Rivet 
and Stud ("onipany, which, like a tice, shows anmiallv its ring of 
growth, and the ^rranslucent Fabric Company, and the Boston (lear 
Works, and the Wollaston Foundrv. and more besides. 




I'liWKi; STATION. MAssAi iirsF.rrs i-'.i.icrrwn 



niE electrical plants which have s])rung up in Quincy 
constitute a most distinctive feature in the city's in- 
dusti'ial pi'ogress. The power station of the INIassa- 
chusetts Fdectric Comp;inies at the Point is the 
irgest and finest e(|nipp(Ml establishment of t!ie kind 
in tlie State. To nearly all of the lines controlled by 
this company (a total of S71 miles, serving eighty-eight towns and 
cities, aggregating a population of l.(i;}i).<S7.V) it furnishes a high ten- 
sion alternaiing system. Its magnific(Mit .';|<'am turbine engines siij)- 
ply l.J.OdO horse power. 




59 

THE Quincv Electric Light and Power Company is wholly a 
local institution, built up by local enterprise and stimulating 
to local pride. Established in 1882, when electric develop- 
ments were in their infancy, the comj^any grew with the growth of 
the town. In lOO^ the old plant with all its machinery was discarded, 
and an entirely new building erected at a convenient point on Town 
River. It is equipped with the finest directly connected units of a 
total capacity of 2,000 horse power. Situated, as it is, near the busi- 
ness centre of the city, and with the chance to expand at the demand 
of an increasing po])idation, it is fitted to give the very best service. 




gUlNCV ELECTKIC LKiHT AND l't)\VKll (A)MrANY 

THE benevolent and charitable deeds of the residents of Quincy 
have never been lacking in aid of the distressed among them. 
The Fragment Society, formed in First Church, has for fifty 
years clothed the naked without regard to their denominational rela- 



60 

tioiis. Its presick'iit is ]\Irs. 'Flioiiias Fenno, its secretary ^Nlrs. E. B. 
Marsh. Foi' al)()tit as lonii' a tiiue the (^uiney ( 'haritaljle Society has 
oiveii food and fuel to the needy. Its ])o\ver to do good has been greatly 
increased by the gift of $10,000 by the late Elias A. Perkins. The 
Rev. Edward Norton is president, and Mrs. Helen L. IJass is treas- 
urer. Tlie faithful secretary for more than thirty yeais. ^Irs. (". A. 
S|)ear. has been lately succeeded by Mrs. Thomas A. Addison. All 
the helpful service rendered by these and kindred organizations is 
re-enforced by the wise benefaction of Professor Jeffrey R. Brackett. 
lie has given the fine "Brackett House," formerly the home of his 
father, to a charitable trust which leases it without Charge to the 
"(^uincy Women's Clnl)."" The objects of this club are social and 
humanitarian. Tlu- officers of the club are: |)resident, ]\Irs. E. C. 
Bunipus; i-ecording secretary, Mrs. John W. Sanljorn; correspond- 
ing secretary. Mrs. Wilson Marsh; treasurer. Miss Annie L. Prescott. 

THE parks and ])ark-ways of Quincy are by no means the least 
of her advantages. True foresight, as well as public spirit, 
were manifested by Charles Francis Adams, the younger, 
when he gave Merry-Mount Park to the city in 1S8.3. To-day its 
eighty-nine acres of beautifully diversified shore land are appreciated 
l)y all. This was not the case a little before 1885, when the obstruc- 
tionists were in such force that a vote could not be obtained in town 
meeting to buy at a low ])rice this desirable pro|)erty. It was on to]) 
of this refusal and the disregard of his sagacious arguments that 
Ml'. Adams himst'lf bought the land, and bestowed it upon his fellow- 
c-itizens, — a most magnanimous act. It is a natural park. The com- 
missioners who have been so careful to conserve its best features — 
(jeorge K. Pfaftmann, Fred B. Rice, Dexter E. Wadsworth — have 
done little more than follow the leadings of nature. 

Faxon Park is another large breathing-space which has been given 
to the citv. It was carved out of the homestead on which Henry II. 
Faxon was born, and gi\('n by that ardent reforinei' to his native 
town. It is situated on the side of Peiui's Hill, pictures(|ue in its 
ledgi's, desirable in the wide views it affords, and convenient to a part 
of the town which is becomintr (luite thicklv settled. 




HENRY L. EMERY 




KRACKETT HOUSE-yriXCY WOJIENS CLUB 



62 

OF all our helpful institutions few ni;iy outrank the Xo-Liceiise 
\<>te, now oviTwhelniiiiii'lv east for '■24 vears! It is another 
••(^uinev system"" keepino- clean the ways of tlie eity. for 
whieli we are especially indebted to Henry H. Faxon. He still lives 
in the renewed devotion of the Xo-License Committee and of Miss 
Eva AI. lii'own, his faithful secretarv for vears. 





HKTHAW cni'HCH 



THE (^uincy ("ity Hospital, the yift of the Hon. William B. Rice, 
rounds out nia<i;niHcently tlie philanthropic institutions of the 
Citv of Presidents. Dr. .John .V. (lordon, who first broached 
the idea of a lios|)ital foi' (^uincy, and who lal)ored so tirelessly in the 
bc^iiniinu' of lliin^s, is still one of the consultiuii; |)hysicians. Since 
its organization .Mr. Rice has been president of the Hoard of Trustees, 
and Mr. Timothy Reed secretary. The Hospital .\id Association, 
a ladies" so(ict\, of which Mrs. .Iose|)h ('. Morse is j)resident, Mrs. 
Alice I). Sanl)()rn, secretary an<l Mrs. Thomas Fenno. treasurer, 
is instrumental in |)roniotin<j; interest in the hos|)ital and in diicctiui;- 
into |)racti<-al channels the sympathy and <;iftsof the pco|)le. 



63 

ABOUT .'3-1 c'luirclies earnestly labor to re-enforce the moral and 
spiritual elements of the community. Christ Church, Rev. W. 
E. Gardner, rector, is the place of worship of the oldest 
Episcopalian society in New England. It was formally organized 
in 1701, and was the church of (iovernor Shirley, the Vassalls, Mil- 
lers, Borlands, Apthorps. In 1828, mass was celebrated for the first 
time in Quincy, in the presence of a number of Catholics, at West 
Quincy. This led to the building of St. Mary's Church in 1842, and 
St. John's, which has grown to be the largest, in 1853. The Univer- 
salists had services here as early as 1830, and in 183''2 they erected an 
edifice. The Rev. W. S. Perkins, D.D. is their present pastor. Beth- 
any Church (Evangelical Congregational), which has long been one of 
the largest religious societies in the community, was organized in 1832. 
Its pastor is the Rev. E. N. Hardy. The other churches are of 
much later growth. 




QUINCY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY 



WITH all these institutions go the uplifting influences of the 
Public Library, — the people's college. In the old days 
there was a "Quincy Social Library," which was "owned 
by a number of ])roprietors, and intended for a circulating library." 
About the year 1870, the late Charles A. Foster aroused interest in the 



G4 



|)n)ject of ;i puh- 
lic liliraiy. Nine 
years 1 a 1 1- r M rs . 
Thomas ('rane and 
lier two sons, in 
nicnidiN' oF 'I'lioni- 
as ( ranc. <^:\\v to 
the low II ('ranc 
Memorial Hall for 
the uses of a pub- 
lie library. It was 
desioiu'd' byll. II. 
Richardson. 





WAl Ki; •liiWKI; (IN Kolil'.KS HU.I. 



(^uincy is included in the Met- 
ropolitan District, shares thead- 
yantages of the Metr()]K)litau 
Park System, Sewer System, 
Water System. In short, it is an 
inseparable part of that matiiiifi- 
eent Metro|)olis. central in Boston 
and ultimately to extend in a 
len-niile ciiciiit on eyery side of 
coiiliynoiis homes and commer- 
cial and nianufacturini'' estab- 
lishnicnts. This is symbolized 
in the lieauliful watei- tower 
which crowns Forbes Hill, which 
is easily the finest thino- of its kind 
in the State. May (^uincy, al- 
tliough incorpoiatcil within the 
Metropolitan District, lu-yer be 
lost in it, but rejoice forever in 
the distinction of its historical 
persons and places, its stately 
homes, its noble mitural features! 



OCT 1 i9oe 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



009 940 797 9''' 



